All Market News: Spanish Real Estate Intelligence

21 March 2019 - Richard D. K. Turner
According to an article published yesterday in the online economic journal Economia Online, the Portuguese bank Novo Banco has initiated the sale of a portfolio of non-performing loans (NPLs) called "Project Nata 2." The portfolio comprises a portfolio of 1,000 corporate loans in default, 70% of which are unsecured, worth €3.3 billion. The sale has already attracted the interest of several major international investors, including Bain, Cerberus and KKR.
Novo Banco, which is 75% owned by the US-fund Lone Star and 25% owned by Portugal’s Resolution Fund, has recently come under pressure from the European banking authorities and the Bank of Portugal to decrease its non-performing exposure (NPE) more rapidly. The successful completion of the transaction, which the bank expects to occur in the third quarter of this year, would lower the bank’s non-performing exposure to 12%. The bank also began to suffer intense criticism when the bank’s president, Antonio Ramalho, recently announced that Novo Banco would request €1.145 billion from the Resolution Fund’s Contingent Capital Mechanism to cover losses with the sale of NPLs incurred in 2018.
Novo Banco is currently in the process of receiving non-binding offers for the portfolio. Alantra, a Spanish company that worked with Novo Banco in other similar transactions, is leading the sales operation.
Original Story: Economia Online - Alberto Teixeira

15 March 2019According to the Portuguese site Diário Imobiliário, the Alcobaça-Cabo Espichel Coastal Development Program, which was approved by the Council of Ministers on Thursday, would involve a total investment of 234.8 million euros to combat coastal erosion by 2028.
Of the total, the coastal development program plans to invest €133 million in the prevention of risks to the shoreline associated with erosion, rising sea levels and climate change. The program would also invest €9.2 million to protect and conserve the environment and landscape in the region. An additional €16.6 million would go to protect water quality at local beaches, €54.9 million to bolster economic activities based on the sustainable use of resources on the coast, €18.1 million to redevelop and upgrade installations at public beaches and €2.6 million to pay for monitoring.
The focus of the program is to protect the coast while fomenting sustainable development and boosting economic growth in the region over the long-term. At the same time, the goal is to proactively deal with any potential future problems or threats, such as climate change.
The program will allocate the largest portion of the funds to Almada (€98.7 million euros), followed by Caldas da Rainha (€22.4 million), Mafra (€18.6 million), Peniche (€15.5 million), Torres Vedras (€13.4 million), Cascais (€11.1 million), Lourinhã (€10.9 million), Sintra (€10.7 million), Sesimbra (€8.7 million), Nazaré (€7.6 million), Alcobaça (€7.6 million ) and Óbidos (€1.8 million).
The area between Alcobaça and Cabo Espichel includes 224 kilometres of the coastline and parts of twelve municipalities.
Original Story: Diário Imobiliário / Lusa
Summary / Translation: Richard Turner

15 March 2019
The Lisbon City Council approved a proposal to exempt luxury residential buildings on Avenida da Liberdade from IMI and IMT.
The proposal, worth an estimated two million euros, has the aim of exempting the company "Liberdade 203 Investimentos Imobiliários, SA" from the Municipal Tax on (IMI), in the amount of about 115,800 euros, and Municipal Tax on Real Estate Transfers (IMT), amounting to more than 1.9 million euros.
While the measure passed with a majority of votes, the BE, the PCP and the PSD questioned whether such subsidies are still justified.
Original Story: Diário Imobiliário / Lusa
Summary / Translation: Richard Turner

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